War-Time Financial Problems eBook

It should be mentioned that one member of the Committee
produced a reservation strongly combating even the
very moderate views expressed by the Committee on
the subject of British shipping and “key”
industries. It should be noted, however, that
he attended very few meetings of the Committee.
He points out that, with regard to the registration
of ships as British when they are owned by a company
which has alien shareholders, “it is not usually
a question of permitting a ship which would in any
case be British to be under the control of aliens;
the question is whether, if a number of persons, some
or all of whom are aliens, own a ship, they should
be permitted to register it as a British ship by forming
themselves into a British company and establishing
an office in the British Dominions. If,”
he observes, “they were not allowed to do so
they would still own the ship, but register it as
a foreign ship in some other country. It appears
that a number of ships were registered here before
the war by companies with alien shareholders (some
even with enemy shareholders). They were managed
in this country; the profits earned by them were subject
to our taxation; they were obliged to conform to the
regulations of our Merchant Shipping Acts; they carried
officers and men who were members of the Royal Naval
Reserve; on the outbreak of war our Government was
able to requisition the ships owing to their British
registration and without regard to the nationality
of the shareholders in the companies owning them.”
It appears to this recalcitrant member—­and
there is much to be said for his view—­that
all these consequences have been highly advantageous
to this country. On the subject of “key”
industries he is equally unconvinced. It appears
to him that “the important thing is to get the
industries established in this country, and that the
question of their ownership is of secondary consequence.”

It is very satisfactory to note, in view of wild talk
that has lately been current with regard to restrictions
on our power to export capital, that the Committee
has not a word to say for any continuance, after the
war, of the supervision now exercised over new issues.
The restrictions which it did recommend, while admitting
their futility, on imports of capital into our shipping
and “key” industries were evidently based
on fears of possible war in future. The moral
is that this war has to be brought to such an end
that war and its barbarisms shall be “spurlos
versenkt,” and that humanity shall be able to
go about its business unimpeded by all the stupid bothers
and complications that arise from its possibility.

XIV

NATIONAL GUILDS

October, 1918

The Present Economic Structure—­Its Weaknesses
and Injustices—­Were things ever better?—­The
Aim of State Socialism—­A Rival Theory—­The
New Movement of Guild Socialism—­Its Doctrines
and Assumptions—­Payment “as Human
Beings”—­The “Degradation”
of earning Wages—­Production irrespective
of Demand—­Is that the Real Meaning of Freedom?—­The
Old Evils under a New Name—­A Conceivably
Practical Scheme for some other World.